Ovechkin says NHL future could hinge on Capitals’ chances to win Cup

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin says his sons, Sergei, 7, and Ilya, 5, have the same question as everyone else in the hockey world.

“Daddy, are you staying or not?”

Ovechkin, who completed his 21st NHL season with the Washington Capitals in a 2-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, is just beginning the process of figuring out his answer. So, the NHL’s all-time leader in goals doesn’t have anything more definitive to offer his sons yet either.

“I tell them, ‘We’ll see,’” Ovechkin said Thursday.

The 40-year-old left wing made it clear, though, that in a perfect world, he’d like to come back for a 22nd NHL season.

“To be honest with you, I’m pretty sure it’s not my last game,” Ovechkin said before having his end-of-season exit meetings with coach Spencer Carbery and management. “I hope it’s not my last game against Columbus. I have to make a decision to see where we’re at: the team, family.

“Obviously, the family is going to support me, like my wife and kids.”

Ovechkin, who is in the final season of a five-year, $47.5 million contract he signed with Washington in 2021, discussed some of the factors that will go into his decision. His health and what it would take for him to get ready to compete in the NHL next season with his 41st birthday coming on Sept. 17 is a big one.

Ovechkin also wants to hear from general manager Chris Patrick and team president Brian MacLellan what moves they plan to make to improve the Capitals’ chances of winning the Stanley Cup next season.

Although Washington (43-30-9) made a late push to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, going 8-2-0 in its final 10 games, it was eliminated from contention when the Philadelphia Flyers clinched third in the Metropolitan Division on Monday. The Capitals qualified for the playoffs in 16 of Ovechkin’s 21 seasons with them, including winning their first Stanley Cup championship in 2018.

This is the second time in four seasons, though, that Ovechkin won’t play in the postseason.

“I’m not going to tell everything to you what I’m thinking, what the options are going to be,” Ovechkin said. “But, obviously, if I want to come back, it has to be a decision on, first of all, we’re going to make the playoffs and we have to fight for a Cup. That’s probably the biggest thing. Otherwise, if you take different scenarios, like family-wise, health-wise.

“But team-wise, this is the most important thing for me.”

Ovechkin mentioned that the Capitals didn’t make moves to upgrade their roster for a playoff push before 2026 NHL Trade Deadline on March 6, instead dealing defenseman John Carlson (Anaheim Ducks) and center Nic Dowd (Vegas Golden Knights), two of the longest-tenured players on the team, for pieces for the future. It was the third time in four seasons that the Capitals moved veteran players before the deadline.

“We’ve been in position like we’re selling,” Ovechkin said. “We’re not adding big pieces to help us go all the way.”

The Capitals were able to sneak into the playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference in 2023-24 after trading away players at the deadline, but they couldn’t pull off the same trick this season. So, what does Ovechkin want to hear from Patrick when they talk?

“We want you for two more years,” Ovechkin joked. “This is a contract. Sign it. Here we go.”

Other than jokes, Ovechkin didn’t share what he envisioned for his conversations with Patrick and MacLellan, who will do their end-of-season media availability on Monday. Ovechkin also was to sit down with Carbery and will meet with owner Ted Leonsis at some point as well.

Ovechkin, who was selected by Washington with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft and was named captain on Jan. 5, 2010, has been proud of playing his entire NHL career with one team. When asked if he’d consider playing for another NHL team if he wants to continue playing and the Capitals don’t want him back, Ovechkin joked, “I’m a free agent,” before saying more seriously, “Probably not. No.”

Ovechkin has mentioned in the past the possibility of returning to his native Russia to play for Moscow Dynamo in the Kontinental Hockey League. He did not rule that out Thursday, but he said he will make his decision on the NHL first, “and then I’m going to make a decision on that as well.”

His preference is to be in the NHL, though, if he plays next season.

“Yeah, I hope so,” Ovechkin said. “How I said, I don’t know what’s going to be next year because I don’t have time to think about it. The season, our season just over a couple days ago. But overall, I didn’t talk to (Carbery and Patrick) yet, and those things are going to matter for me.

“And obviously familywise as well.”

Ovechkin’s sons have already weighed in on the matter.

“They’re excited,” Ovechkin said. “They want me to come back because they love the city and they love the team and they love the boys.”

Ovechkin’s teammates want him to come back, too. They know it’s not up to them, though.

“He means the world to everybody in that room,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. “He's a legend of the game. He's done so much for me personally, for every guy in that room, for the city, for the League. I mean, he's ‘Ovi’. At this point, I think he gets to do whatever he wants. He's a legend. If he wants to come back and play, and another shot at it, he's going to do that and we're going to go for it.

“And if he decides that this is it, then every single guy will support him, and it'll be one of the most legendary careers that ever happened.”

After breaking Wayne Gretzky’s previous NHL record by scoring his 895th goal last season, Ovechkin demonstrated again this season that he can still produce at a high level, leading the Capitals with 32 goals to increase his career total to 929. He also led Washington with 64 points while not missing a regular-season game for the sixth time in his career.

“Throughout the last two years and this year once again just did so many things to not only defy odds and logic,” Carbery said, “just make you as a head coach go, ‘How is he doing that?’ And, ‘How at his age is he able to be that productive?’”

Ovechkin conceded, though, that it’s harder for him to keep up with the seemingly ever-increasing speed of the NHL game and that, because of his age, it takes a lot more work to get ready for a season and stay healthy during it.  So, part of his process will be talking with his personal trainer, Pavel Burlachenko, about what they can do to help him better prepare for next season and deciding whether he wants to put in that effort again.

“When you’re in the season and you have a 25-30-minute skate, it’s nice, but in the summer, you have to work your ass off to get better and be in shape,” Ovechkin said. “When you’re 20, it’s a normal thing, but when you’re 40, it’s kind of like harder and harder every year.

“But I’m going to talk to Pavel and we’re going to figure it out and we’ll see what the decision is going to be and, from that, we’re going to prepare.”